Francisco Lindor was 21 games into his major league career in July 2015 and found himself hitting .205 with an OPS of just .492 with Cleveland.
The eighth overall pick in the MLB draft in 2011, less than a month after getting called up, wasn’t sure what his future would be — or if it would include a trip back to the minors.
But it was right around that time, Lindor said Friday, that his manager, Terry Francona, had a talk with the 21-year-old that “changed everything.”
“I was struggling and one day Francona opened the door in the clubhouse one day and said, ‘You ain’t going anywhere,’” Lindor recalled. “He said, ‘You’re going to be hitting second every single day. Go get ’em.’ That turned my career around.”
Lindor went on to have a stellar second half of that season and the rest is history.
So when Lindor learned top prospect Jackson Holliday was optioned back to the minors by Baltimore on Friday while in the midst of a terrible start to his MLB career, it hit home.
“Not that I’m a GM or a coach or ever will be, but I would not have sent him down,’’ Lindor said. “From my experience, that’s not the way to go. Let him try to figure it out here and go get ’em.”
Holliday — who is just 20 and spent less than two years in the minors after high school, a full season less than Lindor did — was just 2-for-34 with 18 strikeouts in his 10-game cameo before the Orioles pulled the plug on the top overall pick in 2022.
And, as Lindor noted, Cleveland took a different path with his former teammate Jose Ramirez, sending the infielder back down to the minors in 2014, and Lindor also pointed out the Angels did the same thing with Mike Trout in 2011.
“He’s one of the best to ever play,’’ Lindor said. “So what’s the perfect formula? There is none.”
But Lindor still believes Holliday will join Baltimore teammate Gunnar Henderson, as well as young Kansas City star Bobby Witt Jr. as “elite, elite players.”
“I’ve seen how talented Holliday is,’’ Lindor said of the second baseman, who was called up on April 10. “He’s gonna be one of the greats in the game. He should not put his head down. This is probably the first time he’s struggled to this magnitude. I hope he can find some room and the space he needs to get back where he belongs.”
